Roy: Peterson, UNCW in ‘a tough situation’

UNCW coach Buzz Peterson (right) speaks with Dylan Sherwood during Tuesday’s game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The Seahawks have played a tough nonconference road schedule this season. Photo by Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, January 1, 2014 at 11:10 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 1, 2014 at 11:10 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL | Buzz Peterson never got to hear the comments University of North Carolina coach Roy Williams made toward the end of his postgame media conference Tuesday evening.

Williams was getting ready to step away from the podium when he promptly sat back down and spoke for about 50 seconds on the former Tar Heels player and UNCW coach and the schedule his team has faced this season.

Tuesday’s nonconference finale was one of three big money games the Seahawks played this season to help bring money into the athletic department.

“What Buzz Peterson’s got is not an easy situation. Look at that schedule – 17 road games, 17 road games and he’s got to try to make enough money to help their program. So, he’s playing at Iowa, at Iowa State, at North Carolina. That’s a tough situation to be in,” Williams said.

He later added: “When you have to play all those guaranteed games to help out your athletic department is a very difficult thing to do. Buzz Peterson is a great friend yes, but he can also coach. That’s a hard situation. You’ve got 14 home games, 17 road games and all those guaranteed games to help out your athletic department.”

Peterson was just outside the room, but didn’t know his former coach and longtime friend had spoken about him with the press.

UNCW played three big guaranteed money games this year, losing at Iowa, at Iowa State and at UNC. Those three games alone brought in $292,500 for the athletics department. Not included in that total was a package worked out to play Western Kentucky, Marshall, Campbellsville and Stephen F. Austin. That deal was brokered by a scheduling company that helps schools find opponents.

The end result: UNCW brought in money the department needed. The school made a decision last year to keep five sports it had planned to cut because of budget reasons. Peterson was asked to help raise money by playing games that would pad the department’s coffers.

The school got the money it needed. The basketball team suffered three lopsided losses and finished the nonconference slate with a 6-9 record.

“It’s one of those things where none of us wanted to play a lot of these road games, but I know it’s something we had to do, it’s just the situation,” Peterson said on Wednesday. “We did have to change the schedule. We did have it completed at one time. When the five sports were not dropped, that’s when we had to make the changes. But we survived it. We’ve gone through it, it’s over with now.”

The Seahawks’ coach has no problem with having to play an unfavorable schedule. Peterson notes he’s a team player and was happy to help the department raise much-needed funds by playing in those games.

Peterson doesn’t believe playing such a difficult schedule will be something his team has to do in the future. He says the hope is to work out deals with schools for home-and-home series so there isn’t an unbalanced schedule next season and beyond.

And, despite the schedule, the veteran coach feels like his team has improved and they’ll be mentally prepared for conference play starting on Saturday.

“As a coach, you’re concerned you’re going to lose your team because of some of the outcomes of those games,” Peterson said. “I think, overall, we’ve improved. We’ve gotten better. We had a setback at Old Dominion, but we’ve improved and I like the direction we’re going in and everything.”

<p>CHAPEL HILL | <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9942"><b>Buzz Peterson</b></a> never got to hear the comments University of North Carolina coach Roy Williams made toward the end of his postgame media conference Tuesday evening. </p><p>Williams was getting ready to step away from the podium when he promptly sat back down and spoke for about 50 seconds on the former Tar Heels player and <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic71"><b>UNCW</b></a> coach and the schedule his team has faced this season. </p><p>Tuesday's nonconference finale was one of three big money games the Seahawks played this season to help bring money into the athletic department. </p><p>“What Buzz Peterson's got is not an easy situation. Look at that schedule – 17 road games, 17 road games and he's got to try to make enough money to help their program. So, he's playing at Iowa, at Iowa State, at North Carolina. That's a tough situation to be in,” Williams said. </p><p>He later added: “When you have to play all those guaranteed games to help out your athletic department is a very difficult thing to do. Buzz Peterson is a great friend yes, but he can also coach. That's a hard situation. You've got 14 home games, 17 road games and all those guaranteed games to help out your athletic department.”</p><p>Peterson was just outside the room, but didn't know his former coach and longtime friend had spoken about him with the press. </p><p>UNCW played three big guaranteed money games this year, losing at Iowa, at Iowa State and at UNC. Those three games alone brought in $292,500 for the athletics department. Not included in that total was a package worked out to play Western Kentucky, Marshall, Campbellsville and Stephen F. Austin. That deal was brokered by a scheduling company that helps schools find opponents. </p><p>The end result: UNCW brought in money the department needed. The school made a decision last year to keep five sports it had planned to cut because of budget reasons. Peterson was asked to help raise money by playing games that would pad the department's coffers.</p><p>The school got the money it needed. The basketball team suffered three lopsided losses and finished the nonconference slate with a 6-9 record. </p><p>“It's one of those things where none of us wanted to play a lot of these road games, but I know it's something we had to do, it's just the situation,” Peterson said on Wednesday. “We did have to change the schedule. We did have it completed at one time. When the five sports were not dropped, that's when we had to make the changes. But we survived it. We've gone through it, it's over with now.”</p><p>The Seahawks' coach has no problem with having to play an unfavorable schedule. Peterson notes he's a team player and was happy to help the department raise much-needed funds by playing in those games. </p><p>Peterson doesn't believe playing such a difficult schedule will be something his team has to do in the future. He says the hope is to work out deals with schools for home-and-home series so there isn't an unbalanced schedule next season and beyond. </p><p>And, despite the schedule, the veteran coach feels like his team has improved and they'll be mentally prepared for conference play starting on Saturday. </p><p>“As a coach, you're concerned you're going to lose your team because of some of the outcomes of those games,” Peterson said. “I think, overall, we've improved. We've gotten better. We had a setback at Old Dominion, but we've improved and I like the direction we're going in and everything.”</p><p> </p><p>Alex Riley: 910-343-2043</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @alexrileysports</p>